Combined compositor&#39;s stick and type-chase.



PATENTED NOV. 24, 1903.

. F. W. WEEKS. COMBINED COMPOSITORS STICK AND TYPE CHASE.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN.19, 1903.

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No. 744,838. PATBNTED NOV. 24, 1903. P. W. WEEKS.

V COMBINED GOMPOSITORS STICK A YPE GHASE.

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IGATION FILED JAN. 19,

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W/TNESSES- [NVENTOR rates Patented November 24, 1903.

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COMBINED COMPOSITORS STlCK AND TYPE=CHASE SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 74=,838, dated November 24:, 1903. Application filed January 19, 1903. Serial No. 139,639. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK W. WEEKS, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Antonio, in the county of Bexar and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Oompositors Stick and Type-Chase, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to a combined compositors stick and type-chase, and has reference to a system for facilitating the rapid setting of type and printing therefrom by an unskilled person. This complete system includes as the primary feature thereof a novel construction of type, having a printing character at one end, a proof character at its opposite end, and a shoulder projecting from the face of said type adjacent toits proof end; and the invention further includes as a subsidiary feature a novel type-case designed particularly to be employed with the said novel construction of type, said case forming the subject of an application for patent filed in the United States Patent Office November 11, 1902, Serial No. 130,911.

The type, as before premised, is provided with a printing character reversely arranged or negatively presented upon one end of the same and a positively-presented corresponding character upon its opposite end, which has been designated the proof or reading character in contradistinction to the firstnamed character, which has been denominated the printing character. The shoulder which projects from one side of the type is arranged adjacent to the end carrying the proof character and provides a stop or support for the type under certain conditions. The case or holder referred to includes, essentially, a plate having a plurality of type-receiving openings extending obliquely through the same, in which the type are supported resting upon their shoulders, with their proof-faces presented outwardly or exposed to the compositor.

The present invention is primarily intended to be used in conjunction with the novel type and type-case before referred to for facilitating the rapid setting of any desired matter and printing therefrom, and is particularly adapted for printing notices and other matter upon postal cards and the like, although its use, as will be understood, is by no means confined to this single application, but will be found advantageous in many sit nations which will suggest themselves.

The invention includes a receiving-body, approximating in superficial area the dimensions of the card or the like to be printed upon, havinga plurality of equidistantly-spaced receiving-slots therein and a holder or container for said body adapted to be secured in or to a suitable press, the holder having an opening to expose above the surface of the same the printing characters set in the receiving-body.

It further includes the details of construction and combination of parts to be hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose one exemplification of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating myinvention in connection with a press. Fig. 2 is a transversesectional view of the receiver and holder. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the receiver. Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the holder with parts broken away, and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through the receiver and holder.

The type-receiver or substitute for the ordinary compositors stick (indicated in the accompanying drawings by the letter a) is formed of a block, preferably rectangular in shape, having a face approximating in size the superficial area of the card or similar article to be printed upon. Extending through this block and running either longitudinally or transversely thereof are a plurality of equidistantly-spaced slots 6 approximately of the width of the type to be set therein. The compositor in setting up the matter to-be printed selects the type from the case referred to, their proof ends being presented toward him, and drops the same into the slots 2) with their proof ends presented upwardly, so that the matter set may be accurately read without the necessity of obtaining a proof from the printing end of the type. The letters and words are spaced in the usual manner by employing slugs.

The type dropped into the slots b are prevented from falling entirely through the same by the shoulders thereon engaging the face of the body a contiguous to the slots b or the walls of the latter. Each complete line is of course locked in its slot by the use of the ordinary slugs, so that the receiver may be handled without the liability of the type falling from the same and becoming pied.

The holder (designated by the letter 0) comprises, as shown, a box of-substantially rectangular' shape approximating in its interior depth the thickness of the receiving-body and of substantially the same length and width therewith. The upper side of this holder is preferably hinged at one edge to the contiguous edge of one of its vertical sides and is provided with locking means at its longitudinal edge opposite said hinged edge and provides a lid designed to completely close the holder after the receiving-body has been placed therein. In the side of said holder opposite to the lid a central opening is formed of substantially the size of the area occupied by the slots 6 in the receiving-body a or the space occupied by the usual matter set up in said body. I

It will be understood that an intact margin d is left around the slots in the receiver, and the intact portion of the side 6 of the holder corresponds thereto. In each corner of said holder, resting upon the intact part e, a cushionfis placed, formed either bya compressible block or a suitable spring.

In placing the type-receiver in the holder the proof side of the form is presented upwardly and the printing side thereof downwardly. The margin d rests at its corners upon the cushion f, and the printing ends of the type project through the opening in the side e and are exposed a slight distance beyond the outer face of said side. After the receiver is in place the lid is securely fastened down,which forces the inner face thereof into contact with the proof-face of the form held in the receiver and serves to firmly hold the latter in position. The holder, with the receiver locked therein, is then placed in any desired construction of press and the desired number of impressions taken.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one construction of press which may be employed in conjunction with the, holder and receiver disclosed. This press includes a platen '21 and a vertically-movable plunger h, having a threaded stem m at its lower end, designed to be screwed into a threaded socket formed in a boss n, projecting centrally from the lid of the holder.

In the use of my system a number of companion receivers and holders of varying sizes are provided, corresponding in number to the varying sizes of cards or the like it is customary to print. By providing a detachable connection between the plunger of the press and the holder a single press maybe used with any number of said holders or any size of the same.

The construction and operation of my invention will be readily understood upon reference to the foregoing description and accompanying drawings, and it will be appreciated that the parts and combinations may be varied within a wide range without departing from the spirit of the same.

For the purpose of inking the type I preferably provide an inking-ribbon 0, which is associated with the holder 0. For this purpose rollers may be mounted at the opposite ends of the holder 0, each of which is provided with a ratchet-wheel p, with which feed-pawls mounted on the press are designed to coact.

In the operation of the press one of the pawls is thrown in position to coact with the adjacent ratchet-wheel, While the other pawl is thrown .out of operation, and as the plunger is reciprocated one of the rollers 0 will be rotated to wind the inking-ribbon thereupon.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

1. A holder having a closed side and a receiving-chamber formed by said closed side and its side walls, and a type-receiver entirely independent thereof having a plurality of equidistantly-spaced type-receiving slots extending through the same, said receiver being constructed to fit within the chamber in said holder, and coacting parts on said receiver and holder for retaining the receiver within said chamber, substantially as described.

2. A type-receiver having a plurality of slots therein and a marginal intact portion, a receiver associated therewith having a hinged lid, and a side provided with a central opening adapted to expose type and an intact part, and cushioning devices interposed between the intact margin of said receiver and said intact part of the holder, substantially as described.

3. In combination, a press having an engaging member, a holder connected thereto havinga chamber within the same,and a typereceiver independent of the holder and constructed to be separated entirely therefrom, said receiver having a plurality of equidistantly-spaced slots extending through the same, and coacting parts on the receiver and holder for detachably securing said receiver within said chamber, substantially as described.

4. In combination, a press having an engaging member, a holder having a shiftable side, a connection between the latter and the taining the latter in the former, substantially engaging member of the press,a type-receiver as described. 10 having a plurality of equidistantlyspaced In testimony whereof I afiix my signature slots extending through the same, said rein presence of two witnesses.

5 ceiver being entirely independent of the FRANK WV. WEEKS.

holder, and constructed to occupy the cham- Witnesses: ber therein, and coacting engaging parts on MARY E. THAYER,

the holder and receiver for detachably re- G. S. MCFARLAND. 

